Semiconductor device channel termination

ABSTRACT

A semiconductor device has a channel termination region for using a trench ( 30 ) filled with field oxide ( 32 ) and a channel stopper ring ( 18 ) which extends from the first major surface ( 8 ) through p-well ( 6 ) along the outer edge ( 36 ) of the trench ( 30 ), under the trench and extends passed the inner edge ( 34 ) of the trench. This asymmetric channel stopper ring provides an effective termination to the channel ( 10 ) which can extend as far as the trench ( 30 ).

The invention relates to a semiconductor device having a channeltermination structure and a method of manufacturing a channeltermination structure.

The layout of a conventional low voltage n-channel metal oxidesemiconductor (nMOS) transistor is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. Ann+substrate 2 has an n-epilayer 4 grown on top of it. A p-well 6 isformed at the first major surface 8 of the substrate 2 and over epilayer4. A channel region 10 at the first major surface 8 has a gate oxide 12formed upon it. A polysilicon gate 16 is provided over the gate oxide12.

As will be appreciated, in general more than one transistor is providedon a substrate and it is therefore necessary to isolate the transistorfrom neighbouring transistors. The conventional structure for doing sohas two components, a field oxide 14 and a heavily doped channel stopperring in the form of a p-type diffusion 18. The field oxide 14 isprovided laterally around the channel region 10 on the first majorsurface 8, as can be seen more clearly in FIG. 2. The heavily dopedp-type diffusion 18 is implanted into the first major surface 8laterally around the field oxide.

N-type source and drain diffusions 20, 22 define the source and drain. Aback gate contact 24 contacts the p-well 6.

In operation, voltage is applied to the gate 16 and current flowsthrough the channel region 10 between source and drain diffusions 20,22. Little current flows in the region under the field oxide 14 sincethe field oxide 14 is much thicker than the gate oxide 12 and so thethreshold voltage is much higher in this region.

The channel stopper ring 18 prevents n-channels from connecting thesource or drain diffusions 20, 22 to like source or drain diffusions inother transistors. For example, a metal track overlapping the drainregion might have a sufficient positive bias to exceed the thresholdvoltage of the thick field oxide section and thus cause a channelconnecting adjacent transistors together. The high doping in the channelstopper ring 18 prevents this by greatly increasing the thresholdvoltage in the peripheral region.

One disadvantage of this structure is that it does not give a planarsurface.

A further significant problem with this prior art circuit is that thearea of the transistor is rather large. In particular, the area occupiedby the edge structure including the field oxide 14 and channel stopperwell 18 is a large fraction of the area of the device. The field oxide14 in particular must occupy a large area because the design rules forconventional processes require a large width of field oxide to allow forthe slope on the edge of the field oxide to allow for good step coveragein subsequently deposited layers, and sufficient top contact area toensure that the photoresist stripe is wide enough not to becomedisconnected during the etching process.

Accordingly, a shallow trench isolation (STI) technique was introduced.STI involves etching a trench and then implanting a channel stopper intothe bottom of the trench. A deposited dielectric layer is then used tofill the trench. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,355,540 defines a processin which a trench is first defined using a hard mask of oxide andsilicon nitride. A channel stopper is then implanted into the bottom ofthe trench. A layer of silicon oxynitride is formed on the side walls ofthe trench, and a dielectric layer deposited to fill the trench. Excessdielectric is then removed using a chemical-mechanical polishingtechnique. This is a complex and expensive process route to form therequired channel stopper.

There thus remains a need for a method of manufacture of a semiconductordevice to provide isolation between adjacent devices and a semiconductordevice so made.

According to the invention there is provided a semiconductor devicecomprising:

a semiconductor substrate of first conductivity type having opposedfirst and second major surfaces;

a semiconductor component defined adjacent to the first major surface;

a trench extending from the first major surface into the semiconductorsubstrate, having a first side facing the semiconductor component and asecond side opposed to the semiconductor component;

a thermal oxide filling the trench; and

a channel stop diffusion of second conductivity type extending from thefirst major surface on the second side of the trench opposed to thesemiconductor component under the trench from the second side to thefirst side.

Accordingly, in the invention, the trench is refilled with thermaloxide, which is generally of higher quality than deposited oxide.

It would not be possible to simply fill a shallow trench in a prior artSTI structure with thermal oxide. If thermal oxide were grown in atrench having a channel stopper directly implanted under the trench, thethermal oxidation would consume much of the silicon and implanted dopantfor the channel stopper. Moreover, if the dopant were boron, then theboron would preferentially segregate into the oxide. The dose for thechannel stopper could be increased, but this would result in a higherconcentration of dopant atoms diffusing sideways into the active regionsfor the components and this could in turn lead to an unacceptableincrease in the junction leakage current. For this reason, prior artarrangements use deposited oxide, typically deposited using chemicalvapour deposition (CVD). Such processes are both more expensive andproduce worse oxide than thermal oxide.

A further advantage of the approach of the invention is that the outersidewall of the trench is protected by a relatively highly doped andhence effective channel stopper, whilst the doping concentration on theside of the trench adjacent to the active component has a much lowerdoping concentration, and so the active channel region is notexcessively affected by the channel stop.

The channel stop diffusion according to the invention takes up much lessarea than the conventional approaches discussed above that use a channelstop diffusion adjacent to a field oxide layer.

The semiconductor device is easy to manufacture using conventionalequipment. Preferably, the substrate is of silicon.

It should be noted that in this specification the term “semiconductorsubstrate” includes any epilayer or doped regions formed over thesurface of the substrate, but excludes wells of opposite conductivitytype formed in local regions of the surface of the substrate.

The invention is particularly suitable to semiconductor devices formedin a well of a second conductivity type formed in the substrate of firstconductivity type. In these structures, the trench isolation structuresmentioned above, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 6,355,540, havesignificant disadvantages, for any given dopant concentration. Indeed,these prior documents do not suggest that they is are suitable in such astructure.

Firstly, the channel stop diffusions in the prior art documents areformed only under the trench, in a region that in a well-type structureis of the opposite conductivity type to that of the channel stopdiffusion. Hence if the channel stop according to the prior artdocuments discussed were used under a trench extending through the wellinto the substrate the effects of the dopant in the substrate would tendto cancel out rather than enhance the effect of the channel stopdiffusion.

Secondly, the aim of the channel stop diffusion is to prevent a channelbeing formed by stray voltages. The high doping possible by keeping thechannel stop diffusion spaced well away from the channel, mostly on theopposite side of the trench to the channel, assists this goal.

Thirdly, the arrangement according to the invention allows thesemiconductor component to extend right up to the trench. This maximisesthe usable area of the device.

Further, the asymmetric structure of the channel stop diffusion allowsthere to be a high concentration of dopant from the first major surfaceon the outside of the trench, away from the channel, without the needfor a high concentration of dopant in the well which could adverselyaffect the properties of the semiconductor component.

In preferred embodiments the trench surrounds the component. This ismore convenient than alternative arrangements, still possible, in whichthe trench may surround, for example, three sides of the component andthe edge of a well may terminate the fourth side of the component.

Preferably, a number of semiconductor components are provided.

Accordingly, as well as the component and trench arrangement discussedabove, there may be further provided a second component adjacent to thefirst component; a second trench around the second component extendingfrom the first major surface into the semiconductor substrate, having afirst side facing the second component and a second side opposed to thesecond component; and an insulator filling the second trench; whereinthe channel stop diffusion extends from the first major surface betweenthe first and second is trenches under each of the first and secondtrenches. The trench and channel stop diffusion effectively electricallyisolate the first component from the second, and the sharing of thechannel stop diffusion between first and second components minimises thearea used.

The semiconductor component is preferably an insulated gate field effecttransistor having longitudinally spaced source and drain implants in thewell defining a channel region at the first major surface between thesource and drain implants;

A key problem in structures having FETs formed in wells is the existenceof the parasitic bipolar transistor with its base the well, one of thesource and drain forming the emitter and the substrate forming thecollector.

The field oxide region sucks dopant out of the well during its formationwhich lowers the dopant concentration in the well. This can lead tobreakdown in the parasitic bipolar transistor if the depletion region atthe well punches through to the source or drain diffusions. The channelstop diffusion according to the invention assists in preventing thiseffect by extending under the trench to replace dopant sucked out of thewell during field oxide formation, to reduce the size of the depletionregion for any given voltage between well and source or drain, and hencereduce the risk of such breakdown.

To form an insulated gate transistor as the component there may beprovided a gate oxide over the channel region of the first major surfaceand a gate over the gate oxide, wherein the gate oxide and gate span thechannel region from a trench on one side of the channel region to atrench on the other side of the channel region so that the channelregion extends laterally between the trenches. This allows maximumutilisation of chip area. In contrast, in prior art approaches using“bird's beak” field oxide layers,the “beak” of the “bird's beak” meansthat there is a slow increase in threshold voltage away from the centreof the channel so that the edge of the channel adjacent to thetermination structure is not effectively used.

The source and drain implants discussed above constitute a first MOStransistor. Further source and drain implants forming further MOStransistors may be formed, likewise surrounded by a trench and a channelstop diffusion. The channel stop diffusions formed for adjacenttransistors may be shared, thus one diffusion may be formed betweentrenches of two adjacent transistors to act as the channel stopdiffusion for both of the adjacent transistors.

In another aspect, there is provided a method of manufacturing asemiconductor device, including providing a substrate of a firstconductivity type extending between first and second major surfaces;

forming a trench around a component region, the trench extending fromthe first major surface into the substrate;

forming thermal oxide filling the trench;

implanting a dopant of the second conductivity type along the outer edgeof the trench opposed to the component region but not along the inneredge of the trench facing the channel region; and

diffusing the dopant so that it extends underneath the trench.

The method of manufacture is readily compatible with existing processes.

The method preferably further includes the step of implanting a well ofa second conductivity type opposite to the first conductivity type atthe first major surface. In this case, the component may be formed inthe well and the trench may extend through the well into the substrate.

The step of implanting a dopant of second conductivity type may becarried out by forming a mask having an opening above the trench, theopening being offset away from the component region. The channel stopdopant may then be implanted using the mask.

The step of diffusing the dopant is conveniently carried out by usingheat treatment. Such heat treatment steps may be required in any event,so the step of diffusing the dopant often adds no steps to the process.

The mask for the channel stop diffusion may be formed using a reductionstepper technology to allow very small devices to be made.

For a better understanding of the invention, a prior art structure andembodiments of the invention will now be described, purely by way ofexample, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a cross-sectional side view of a prior art transistorstructure;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the prior art structure of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional side view of a first embodiment of atransistor structure according to the invention;

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 are cross-sectional side views illustrating stages inthe manufacture of the semiconductor device of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a comparative top view showing the relative areas taken up bythe devices according to FIGS. 1 and 3; and

FIG. 8 illustrates a second embodiment of the invention having twotransistors.

FIG. 3 shows a lateral nMOS field effect transistor according to theinvention. An n-epilayer 4 on an n+silicon substrate 2 has a p-well 6formed therein at a first major surface 8. A channel region 10 at thefirst major surface 8 has a gate oxide 12 formed thereon and apolysilicon gate 16 is formed over the gate oxide. Trenches 30 areprovided on either side of the channel region 10 and are filled withthermal field oxide 32. A channel stop diffusion 18 is formed extendingfrom the first major surface 8 down the outer edge 36 of the trench 30facing away from the channel region 10. The diffusion 18 extends underthe trench 30 as far as the inner edge 34 of the trench 30. It will benoted that the polysilicon gate 16 overlaps the inner edge 34 of thetrench 30. A passivation layer 38 is provided above these components tofinish the device. FIG. 3 further illustrates field oxide layer 14arranged at the lateral edges of the p-well 6.

The manufacture of this structure will now be described with referenceto FIGS. 4 to 6. Firstly the n-epilayer 4 is grown on the N+substrate 2.Then, a p-well implant 40 is implanted into the first major surface 8 ontop of the epilayer 4. Trenches 30 are then formed by etching to resultin the structure shown in FIG. 4. In the example, the trenches are 2 μmdeep and 1 μm across. Thermal field oxidation is then carried outforming thermal oxide (field oxide) 50 both on the first major surface 8and also within the trenches 30. The step of field oxidation diffusesthe p-well implant 40 to define the doping profile in the p-well 6 ascan be ascertained by a comparison of FIGS. 4 and 5. A planarisationetch is then carried out to remove the field oxide 50 on the first majorsurface 8 leaving the field oxide 32 within the trenches 30, as well asfield oxide 14 around the outside of the p-well 6.

Next, resist 60 is deposited on the first major surface 8 and patternedusing a reduction stepper to leave openings 62 aligned with but slightlyoffset outwards from the trenches 30, as shown in FIG. 6. The openings62 are arranged over the outer edge 36 of the trench 30, i.e. the edgefacing away from the channel region 10, but do not extend as far as theinner edges 34 facing the channel region 10. Boron 64 is then implantedthrough holes 62 in resist 60 to provide the channel stop diffusion. Theboron is implanted at a dose 1×10¹⁴ to 1×10¹⁵ atoms per squarecentimetre. During subsequent heat treatments, the implanted boron 64diffuses past and under the bottom of the trench 30 under the inner edge34 of the trench so that the diffusion extends a short distance underthe region covered by the polysilicon gate 16 as illustrated in FIG. 3.

This sideways diffusion replaces the boron sucked out from the p-well 6during the field oxidation process.

FIG. 7 illustrates the area occupied by a prior art device of FIGS. 1and 2 in FIG. 7 a and the area on the same scale occupied by the deviceaccording to the invention in FIG. 7 b. It will be noted that there isvery much less area taken up by the new device. This is partly becauseof the small size required for the edge termination structure formed bythe field oxide 32 and channel stopper ring 18, and this is helped bythe fact that the polysilicon gate 16 and accordingly the channel 10 canextend right up to the trenches 30. Indeed, the polysilicon gate 16overlaps the inner edge 34 of the trench 30 as previously illustrated inFIG. 3.

The above figures show only a single transistor. However, it will beappreciated that in practice many transistors may be formed in thep-well 6. FIG. 8 illustrates this—a number of transistors 80 are formed,each having a source and drain diffusion 20, 22 surrounded by a trench30 having a channel stopper arranged on the outside of and underneaththe trench 30. It will be noted that in regions 84 between adjacenttrenches 30, a single diffusion 18 function as the channel stop 18 foradjacent transistors 80. Although FIG. 8 illustrates two transistors, inpractice there may be many more.

In use, the combination of field oxide 32 in trench 30 and the channelstopper ring 18 forms an effective isolation of n-type transistorsarranged in the p-well 6.

It will be noted that the diffusion 18 extends under the inner edge 34of trench 30 and this replaces boron sucked out of the p-well 6 in thisregion during field oxidation. This reduces the chance of breakdown ofthe parasitic field effect transistor having its base the p-well 6, itsemitter the source or drain diffusion 20, 22 and its collector thesubstrate 2 and epilayer 4. The channel stop diffusion is needed toboost the boron doping in the P-well 6 base regions adjacent to thetrenches. During the thermal oxidation process the boron in the P-welldiffusion partially segregates into the field oxide. This loss of boronincreases the resistance in the P-well diffusion, which is the base of aparasitic vertical bipolar transistor. It is very important that thisbipolar never turns on, for example, if a high dV/dt is applied to itscollector-base junction, otherwise permanent damage could occur to thedevice. The channel stop diffusion extends into the boron depletedP-well region and effectively reduces the local base resistance and gainof the parasitic bipolar.

The channel stop implant can be masked using a patterned layer ofresist, which can readily defined using standard photolithographictechniques, no other special masking arrangements or materials arerequired. The channel stop diffusion does not reach the surface of thesilicon in the active channel region and thus avoids introducing anyvariance in the local threshold voltage and effective channel width ofthe component. This ensures good matching of components, such as nMOStransistors, which are used in current mirror and comparator circuits.

From reading the present disclosure, other variations and modificationswill be apparent to persons skilled in the art. Such variations andmodifications may involve equivalent and other features which arealready known in the design, manufacture and use of semiconductordevices and which may be used in addition to or instead of featuresdescribed herein. Although claims have been formulated in thisapplication to particular combinations of features, it should beunderstood that the scope of disclosure also includes any novel featureor any novel combination of features disclosed herein either explicitlyor implicitly or any generalisation thereof, whether or not it mitigatesany or all of the same technical problems as does the present invention.The applicants hereby give notice that new claims may be formulated toany such features and/or combinations of such features during theprosecution of the present application or of any further applicationsderived therefrom.

Although the above has been described with reference to an n-channeldevice in a p-well, the skilled person will readily appreciate that thesame technique could be used for a p-type transistor in an n-well, andindeed to p-or n-channel devices formed directly in a substrate.Further, the compact termination structure can be applied to many othertypes of component used in cMOS and other circuits, not justtransistors, including pMOS transistors, diffused “n” type resistors,diffused “p” type resistors, diodes in the bulk silicon, pn and pnpbipolar transistors and capacitors. Depending on the type of componentbeing formed, the skilled person will realize that the appropriatedopant type must be used for the channel stopper ring. For example, alateral pMOS transistor may use an n dopant such as phosphorus for thechannel stopper instead of the p dopant as described above.

1. A semiconductor device comprising: a semiconductor substrate of firstconductivity type having opposed first and second major surfaces; asemiconductor component defined adjacent to the first major surface; atrench extending from the first major surface into the semiconductorsubstrate, having an inner side facing the semiconductor component andan outer side opposed to the semiconductor component; a thermal oxidefilling the trench; and a channel stop diffusion of first conductivitytype extending from the first major surface on the outer side of thetrench and further extending under the trench from the outer side to theinner side of the trench.
 2. A semiconductor device according to claim 1further comprising a well of a second conductivity type opposite to thefirst conductivity type implanted into the first major surface of thesemiconductor substrate; wherein the trench extends from the first majorsurface through the well into the substrate.
 3. A semiconductor deviceaccording to claim 2 wherein the semiconductor component is a firsttransistor, the semiconductor device further comprising: a secondtransistor adjacent to the first transistor; a second trench around thesecond transistor extending from the first major surface into thesemiconductor substrate, having an inner side facing the secondtransistor and an outer side opposed to the second transistor; and athermal oxide filling the second trench; wherein the channel stopdiffusion extends from the first major surface between the first andsecond trenches under each of the first and second trenches.
 4. Asemiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the semiconductorcomponent is an insulated gate field effect transistor havinglongitudinally spaced source and drain implants in the well defining achannel region at the first major surface between the source and drainimplants.
 5. A semiconductor device according to claim 4 comprising agate oxide over the channel region of the first major surface and a gateover the gate oxide, wherein the gate oxide and gate span the channelregion from the trench on one side of the channel region to the trenchon the other side of the channel region so that the channel regionextends laterally between the trenches.
 6. A method of manufacturing asemiconductor device including: providing a substrate of a firstconductivity type extending between first and second major surfaces;forming a trench around a component region, the trench extending fromthe first major surface past the component region into the substrate;forming thermal oxide filling the trench; implanting a dopant of thesecond conductivity type along the trench and offset outwards from thecentre of the trench away from the component region; and diffusing thedopant so that it extends underneath the trench.
 7. A method accordingto claim 6 further comprising the step of implanting a well of a secondconductivity type opposite to the first conductivity type at the firstmajor surface; wherein the component region is formed in the well andthe trench extends from the first major surface through the well to thesubstrate.
 8. A method according to claim 6 wherein the step ofimplanting a dopant of second conductivity type is carried out byforming a mask having an opening above the trench, the opening beingoffset away from the component region, and then implanting the channelstop dopant through the mask.
 9. A method according to claim 6, whereinthe mask is patterned to form the opening using a reduction stepper. 10.A method according to claim 6, further comprising the steps of: forminglongitudinally spaced source and drain diffusions defining a channelregion therebetween in the component region; depositing a gate oxidelayer at least over the channel region; depositing a gate over the gateoxide layer, the gate extending laterally across the channel region,having the trench at each end of the gate.
 11. (canceled)
 12. (canceled)